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WGB Week in Review: Deals Die, Tensions Rise
Retail joins the chorus as protests continue; meanwhile, the COVID whirlwind impacts the merger market. Protests in U.S. cities continued, forcing temporary storefront decor changes like this Whole Foods Market unit in Brooklyn, N.Y. Retailers in the meantime were swept up in the passion for equal treatment under the law driving them, and several announced donations and delivered messages to employees. In the meantime, valuations thrown out of whack by the sudden windfall of sales in the grocery channel helped to quell at least two deals in the works: Ahold Delhaize walked away from King Kullen, and United Natural Foods said it was reconsidering immediate plans to spin off its Cub Foods chain. Below are more highlights from the week of June 7-12.
1 Min Read
Whole Foods Market BrooklynWGB Staff photo
'We See You. We Hear You. We Support You.'
By Jennifer Strailey on 06/08/2020
Retailers including Walmart, Target and Kroger establish multimillion dollar funds in support of diversity.
$127 million
Combined donations toward racial-equity programs announced in the last week by retailers and their associated charitable arms: Walmart ($100 million over 5 years); Target ($10 million); Kroger ($5 million); Ahold Delhaize ($5 million); Albertsons ($5 million); HEB ($1 million); Hy-Vee ($1 million)
How Changing Shopping Trends Are Playing to Walmart’s Strengths
By Jon Springer on 06/08/2020
New data shows the retailer is making outsized customer acquisition gains—and gaining frequency—behind a unique omnichannel offering accelerated by the COVID crisis.
Lei Duran, SVP, Kantar
“Instead of trying to be Amazon, or instead of trying to go and be a grocery store, Walmart really said, ‘My competitive advantage is the fact people trust me for EDLP. I’m not going to high-low price them.' ”
No Deal for Stop & Shop, King Kullen
By WGB Staff on 06/10/2020
"America's first supermarket" and Stop & Shop end merger deal amid COVID-19-related changes to the marketplace.
Q&A: Helping Independents Tackle the Online Sales Boom
By Jon Springer on 06/09/2020
The coronavirus pandemic provided conditions ripe for independents to exert local leadership and grow their base—as long as they executed, Rosie CEO Nick Nickitas says in an interview with WGB.
2020 State of Retail Foodservice: Where Can Grocers Go From Here?
By Jennifer Strailey and Wade Hanson on 06/09/2020
WGB's annual survey, conducted in partnership with Technomic, expertly frames where the category is now, how it got here and where the focus will need to be as grocers strive to reimagine and rebuild this year and beyond.
Wade Hanson, pricipal, Technomic
“Coming out of the pandemic into a recession means consumers will have value concerns. They will have a startling number of new visual cues they will be looking at to assure quality and cleanliness. And how they balance the concepts of fresh and safety will evolve.”
Q&A: Technomic's Wade Hanson Talks Challenges, Opportunities in Retail Foodservice
By Jennifer Strailey and Meg Major on 06/09/2020
Principal Wade Hanson says one of the most important things grocers can to do in the months ahead is "study the new needs of the shopper."
FMI 2020 Trends Report: A Pandemic Curveball Changes Industry Trajectory
By Kat Martin on 06/10/2020
The pandemic condensed eight years of spending growth into one month, according to the report.
Fortnite Meets Food Shopping in New Virtual Marketing Tool
By Jennifer Strailey on 06/09/2020
At a time when social distancing threatens to curtail consumer marketing research, Nielsen is using immersive virtual reality technology to offer retailers planogram testing and shopper behavior insights.
UNFI Pulls Cub Off the Block
By Jon Springer on 06/11/2020
Growing sales and a slower dealmaking prompts the distrubutor to hold onto retail—for now.